Thematic analyses 2014:

The allocation of foreign investments and the expenditure on fixed tangible assets on the territory of Bulgaria demonstrate huge discrepancies between districts. Nonetheless, the gaps between the most attractive districts in terms of investments and the least attractive ones clearly narrowed after the beginning of the economic crisis.

The structure of local budgets do not contain incentives for attracting foreign investments or for removing hindrances before local entrepreneurs; it entirely focuses on the utilization of EU funds in their capacity as the sole alternative for the inflow of funds in municipalities and for funding public projects.

Opportunities that the employment rate in some districts should reach and even exceed the pre-crisis levels thereof in 2014 and 2015 have increased despite the political crisis in Bulgaria. The labour market’s recovery, at least at this stage, seems to have been achieved not by means of policies implemented nationally and locally, but despite them.

The aim of clustering districts is to distinguish and analyse specific types of regional profiles. The districts, included into the composition of a cluster, are sufficiently similar to each other and differing from the rest.

All indicators featuring the socioeconomic state and development of districts have been used for classifying the types of regional profiles (clusters). The cluster-forming method is neural networks.

The types of regional profiles could possibly be used for: identifying complex positive or negative phenomena, disclosing and analysing the causes that have given rise to these phenomena, formulating general or sectoral policies concerning a type of regional profile, etc.